It would be a mistake to try to avoid all mistakes. Indeed, it
would be a colossal blunder to attempt doing things right the
first time, every time. In today's light speed economy, ("new"
economy and "old" economy) if you don't fall on your face both
regularly and painfully, you are likely to end up dead instead.
The only people not making mistakes are ones playing their game
without risk and without novelty - and I might add - without
progress. If your company cannot accommodate, even reward, failure
- in the long run, you cannot succeed.
Why? Doing things wrong, is the number one - perhaps the only -
source of innovation. David Kelly, CEO of design firm IDEO, says,
"...enlightened trial and error beats the planning of flawless
intellects...The reason is simple: the best solutions to most
problems are rarely the most obvious." James Joyce said it
poetically, "Mistakes are the portals of discovery." Think about
it. What did you ever learn by doing something right the first
time?
IBM's rumored motto about mistakes is legendary: Fail Faster.
Since the road to success is paved with failures, the faster you
move through them, the faster you might find a way which works.
Don't prolong the agony, get it over with quickly, learn the most
you can, and move on. IDEO's Kelly says it succinctly, "we fail
faster to succeed sooner."
World leaders and scientists have wonderful legacy of being wrong
in a big way. Edison's tolerance for "mistakes" is renowned. The
European "discovery" of America was a mistake. Even the invention
of Teflon was a mistake.
Great companies also have a long and gallant history of failing.
GM's ridiculous Gremlin was a big flop, but paved the way for
ever-popular hatchbacks. What about New York City's World Trade
Center, one of the first "cities in a building," remained
half-empty for almost a whole decade. There are many famous failed
computers, including Apple's Lisa and Newton or the Palm Pilot's
predecessor, Zoomer - evidence that failures breed innovations
rather than stifling them. Not all business failures are so
glorious. 65 out 100 business startups vanish without a trace
within five years and 90% are gone within ten years. But we need
these failures - without them there would no companies to
survive.
If you are in the surgery business or fly airplanes for a living,
you may not want to make any mistakes. But for the rest of us -
especially if you are in a technology business - doing things
wrong is prerequisite to doing things right. As the philosopher
Ludwig Wittgenstein said, "If people did not sometimes do silly
things, nothing intelligent would ever get done."
Internet Time doesn't simply mean working 18-hour days. It means
trying lots of ideas, making mistakes, and killing off bad results
quickly. Many "old economy" managers still want to take their time
and make sure everything is thought out - all the I's dotted, all
the Ts crossed. Don't do it! You no longer have that luxury - if
you ever did. Don't slow down your development cycle, speed it up.
In the spirit of failing quickly, here are a few ideas and tips
for you to try out. Some will work for you. Others will not. Try
and fail.
Don't penalize mistakes, encourage them. How about rewarding
them? Create a bonus for the most brilliant (or most flagrant)
mistake of the month. Put risk-taking mistake-makers' faces on
your website or in your newsletter. Many companies say they
encourage mistakes, but really intimidate and punish the
mistake-makers. As soon as you begin to do that you foster a
better-safe-than-sorry attitude. Instead, put your money where
your mouth is.
What about having a regular meeting dissecting the
mistakes-of-the-month, trying to learn their lessons. Train people
to savor their mistakes, and understand the strange paths which
lead them astray.
Use rapid prototyping. This technical-sounding phrase simply means
doing things quickly without trying to get them into final form,
making mistakes and swiftly fixing them. Get something up and
running - anything that resembles your desired solution. Then fix
what isn't working. And fix, and fix, and fix. This may be the
best way to do product development in Internet Time, also known as
creative trial and error.
When things go wrong, do sound a hunt for the guilty? Don't cast
blame - commemorate mistake makers as heroes. One of the reasons
mistakes go undetected - and progress slowed - is that people
aren't willing to take "credit" for their errors. Rather than
calling attention to things which are off course (and risking
their careers), they prefer to bury them for as long as possible.
Use the concept of a "breakdown." When your car breaks down, do
you blame the driver, or do you just fix the problem? When a
project or a process is veering off course, treat it like a
breakdown. Rather than spending time deciding who did what wrong,
do this: restate where you are want to go and figure out what will
get you back on track. During the Iran Contra Scandal, President
Reagan intoned, "Mistakes were made." There was no admission of
guilt. No fixing of blame. Perhaps we can learn from this
brilliant locution.
Create a company of learners with a formal debriefing policy.
Without one, learning from mistakes is just one more accident.
Debrief everything - good, bad or indifferent. Use the four-stage
catechism of the learning organization: What worked? What didn't
work? What was missing? What do we do next?
One way to really get things moving on a project is to declare a
"state of emergency." Emergencies mobilize people. They bring out
the whatever-it-takes attitude, especially when they know that
"mistakes" will be tolerated, and that mistake-makers will be
lionized.
Forget about total quality and zero defects. You can't afford it,
especially in this day and age. Think of the 80/20 rule, or extend
it to 90/10. There is a level of quality beyond which "mistakes"
are a viable economic alternative. Unless the outcome of your
product or service impacts life or death, the cost of perfection
can not be justified. Use the errors you generate as opportunities
to improve your production process and practice great customer
service.
Remember, the hallmark of progress is making mistakes.
While making mistakes is good, repeating them is definitely not.
To avoid repeating mistakes in the future, it sometimes helps to
ask good questions ahead of time. If you would like a copy of my
fractal strategic planning questionnaire, send an email to
request@lemberg.com?subject=strategy-questions.
Paul Lemberg is the author of, "Faster than the Speed of Change."
Paul conducts a limited number of highly-focused, three-day Growth
Strategy and Tactics Programs for fast-growth, entrepreneurial
companies. contact us at 760-741-1747 or e-mail to paul@lemberg.com, or
visit our website at www.lemberg.com.
